Department for Transport

Railways: Capital Investment

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they are giving to simplifying the Governance for Railway Investment Projects process.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: Her Majesty's Government has no plans to simplify the Governance for Railway Investment Projects (GRIP) process. GRIP underwent a full review and subsequent update by Network Rail in 2015, and has been designed in alignment with PRINCE2 which is recognised as best practice framework for project management globally.

Home Office

EU Immigration: Horn of Africa

Lord Chidgey: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Home Office has commissioned any research into migration to the EU from Horn of Africa nations, in line with the UK's role as the Chair of the Khartoum Process.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: As Chair of the Khartoum Process, the UK supports enhanced work in the Horn of Africa, working with EU and African partners to deliver concrete actions to combat people smuggling and human trafficking. Helping the countries of the Horn of Africa cope with migratory flows and tackling the root causes of migration is firmly in the UK's interests, but we remain mindful of the broader humanitarian and political concerns regarding countries in that region and our position on that point has not changed.The Home Office conducted research in the Horn of Africa to understand drivers of irregular migration to Europe and the UK, in line with our work under the Khartoum Process.

Firearms

Baroness Kennedy of Cradley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the number of unlicensed firearms in circulation in the UK.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The table provided contains statistics on the number of licensed firearms and shotguns, by police force area, in England and Wales as at 31 March 2015.At this time there was a total of 1.34 million licensed shotguns and 0.53 million licensed firearms.The Home Office does not centrally hold any estimates for unlicensed firearms.Figures for Scotland and Northern Ireland are a matter for the devolved administrations.



Table 1
(Excel SpreadSheet, 32 KB)

Female Genital Mutilation

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to protect British girls in the Dawoodi Bohra community from female genital mutilation, in the light of the sermon by Supreme Leader Mufaddal Saifuddin on 25 April urging that all girls must undergo that procedure.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a crime and it is child abuse. We will not tolerate a practice that can cause extreme and lifelong physical and psychological suffering to women and girls.We will not stop FGM until we have changed attitudes within communities. The Government works closely with a range of community and faith groups, including Muslim women's groups, to tackle FGM. Over 350 faith leaders from all the major faiths have signed a declaration condemning FGM. They have declared that it is not required by their religions and is a form of child abuse. The declaration makes clear that all religions will work together to end FGM for good. We continue to work with community organisations and survivors through the Governments FGM Unit's stakeholder group and outreach programme to drive this work forward.In 2014 the Government ran a national communications campaign to raise awareness. We also funded 29 community engagement projects, including a network of community champions, who are reaching thousands of women and girls affected by FGM, and, importantly, their families. The work of these projects has included training for teachers, awareness sessions in local mosques, and the establishment of a new national website for, and by, young people giving information about how to prevent FGM. The Department for Communities and Local Government has established a network of community champions which is operating in London, Bristol, Manchester and Birmingham. Champions are working with local people to address the myths that sustain FGM and to help keep girls safe.

Internet: Fraud

Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to limit online financial fraud.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: This Government is clear that more must be done not only to disrupt and prosecute criminals but also to protect people and businesses from becoming victims of fraud. In February this year the Government launched the Joint Fraud Taskforce a genuine collaboration of banks, law enforcement and government. It is the first time these organisations have come together to tackle fraud, and particularly to focus on those issues that have been considered too difficult for a single organisation to manage alone. The Taskforce has five work strands which are:- Understanding the Threat - Bringing together data to agree key threats, vulnerabilities and drivers of fraud;- The Collective Response - Better targeting to disrupt and catch fraudsters, through increased cooperation between banks and law enforcement;- Victims & Vulnerability - More efficient identification of victims, including addressing the barriers preventing return of funds to victims;- Behaviour Change - better targeted messaging on fraud prevention and,- Tackling systemic vulnerabilities - Designing out vulnerabilities and loopholes in systems and processes which fraudsters exploit.The Government has also published in March this year "A Guide for Consumers: Staying Safe When You Shop and Bank Online." The report draws on real life, anonymised examples of reported crimes and provides simple but effective advice on how the people can protect themselves from these types of frauds: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-guide-for-consumers-staying-safe-when-you-bank-or-shop-online



A Guide for Consumers: Staying Safe When You Shop 
(PDF Document, 270.43 KB)

Cycling: Road Traffic Offences

Lord Tebbit: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they ensure that the identity and addresses given by cyclists being issued with fixed penalty notices are not false.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The Police have powers under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and Road Traffic Act 1988 to request an individual's identity where the person is suspected of committing an offence. The application of any such powers is an operational matter for the police.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Trade Union Act 2016: Wales

Lord Hain: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 19 April (HL Deb, col 614), whether they will write to the Welsh Government Minister for Public Services setting out in full their argument that those sections of the Trade Union Bill applying only to devolved public services in Wales are nevertheless reserved matters, and if so, whether they will place a copy of that letter in the Library of the House.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: Ministers have engaged with the Devolved Administrations on the Trade Union Act. As part of our engagement, Nick Boles, the policy Minister for the Trade Union Act, has received four letters from Leighton Andrews, Minister for Public Services in the Welsh Government. These letters related to specific aspects of the Act and the Welsh Government position on their applicability in Wales. On 5th February 2016 Nick Boles had a telephone conversation with Leighton Andrews on the Act; and on 4 March, he replied to the letters and has placed a copy of the correspondence in the Library. As set out throughout its parliamentary passage, the Act is about employment and industrial relations law, which are reserved matters. It will apply consistently across Great Britain, including to public services in Wales.

Minimum Wage: Prosecutions

Lord Kinnock: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many prosecutions for failure by employers to pay the National Minimum Wage have been undertaken since the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 came into force; what plans they have to improve the legal enforcement of the National Minimum Wage; and when those improvements will come into effect.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: Since the introduction of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) Act there have been 9 prosecutions for NMW offences. However, prosecutions are not necessarily the best approach in most cases. Criminal sanctions against companies mean that employees – the ultimate beneficiaries of enforcing the NMW – end up waiting longer for their lost earnings to be paid back. From April this year we increased the civil penalties incurred by non-compliant workers to 200% of the arrears owed to the worker, up to a maximum of £20,000 per worker – having recently increased the penalty cap from £5,000 per employer. We have also increased the enforcement budget for the National Minimum and Living Wage to £20 million for this year, up from £13.2 million in 2015/16. The additional funds will be used to bolster HMRC’s resources through an increase in the number of compliance officers available to investigate NMW abuses, as well as to conduct risk-based enforcement in sectors or areas where there is a higher risk of workers not being paid the legal minimum wage. We will also continue to publically name and shame eligible employers in Government press notices. We expect this tobe a deterrent to employers who would otherwise be tempted not to pay the NMW, but also an incentive for all employers to make sure that they are consistent with the law.

Tata Steel

Lord Sharkey: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much public funding was involved, and on what terms, in the purchase by Greybull Capital of Tata Steel’s Long Products Europe business.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: The transaction was a private commercial deal, supported by financing from commercial lenders. Her Majesty’s Government did not participate in the funding of the transaction.

Department for Education

Children in Care: Criminal Proceedings

Lord Judd: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consultations they have had with (1) the Howard League for Penal Reform, (2) The Children's Society, (3) Barnardo's, (4) the NSPCC, (5) other children's charities, and (6) the police, about the number of children in care who become entangled in the criminal justice system, and what action they are taking to reduce that number.

Lord Nash: The Government remains committed to ensuring that children in care avoid criminality. As of 31 March 2015, there were 69,540 looked after children. Of the 31,820 10-17 year olds who had been in care for a year or more, 5% had been convicted of an offence or were subject to a final warning or reprimand (Department for Education Statistical First Release - 34/2015).To improve residential care, Sir Martin Narey has been asked to undertake an independent review of children’s homes. As part of this, Sir Martin will consider how to reduce any inappropriate criminalisation of children in children’s homes. As part of his review of the youth justice system, Charlie Taylor has consulted a wide range of organisations, including about children in care who offend. He will report this summer with recommendations on how to improve the treatment of young people in the youth justice system. The National Offender Management Service has also established a National Care Leavers’ Forum which brings together stakeholders from a range of internal and external bodies, including the Care Leavers’ Association.

Ministry of Justice

Fines

Lord Beecham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the fact that the Sentencing Council’s fine calculator does not reflect the new victim surcharge fees for offences committed on or after 8 April, does not permit rounding for fines or victim surcharges, and allows fines to be imposed outside Magistrates’ Court Sentencing Guidelines, what steps they plan to take to make changes to the calculation method, and to confirm that the Ambay Software Sentencing Guidelines App complies fully with those guidelines.

Lord Faulks: The Sentencing Council has launched a new fines calculator, which is freely available on its website to assist magistrates when imposing fines. This takes account of the changes to the surcharge introduced on 8 April and enables calculations for multiple fines and rounding where appropriate. The calculator is a tool to assist sentencers and is not intended to replace the role of the court in determining the appropriate sentence in line with any relevant sentencing guidelines. Courts can only depart from sentencing guidelines if it is in the interests of justice to do so.

Magistrates' Courts: ICT

Lord Beecham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, in accordance with the advice of the Senior Presiding Judge and the Sentencing Council, it is permissible for magistrates to use their own technology in court, and what assessment they have made of whether consistent advice is being given in all magistrates' courts about that issue.

Lord Faulks: HM Courts and Tribunals Service has provided secure bench devices to enable magistrates to view sensitive case information, and other material, digitally in court. Magistrates may use their own equipment to access public and non-sensitive material in accordance with guidance issued by the Senior Presiding Judge.

Claims Management Services

Lord Mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of how many authorised claims management companies have been operating over the last five years.

Lord Faulks: The total number of authorised claims management companies (CMCs) operating over the last five years is as follows: Year20122013201420152016Total Authorised CMCs (at end March)29982693209717521610 This information is included in the CMR Annual Report, which can be found at gov.uk.

European Convention on Human Rights

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their policy on the UK withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights.

Lord Faulks: The Government’s position on the European Convention of Human Rights remains clear. We cannot rule out withdrawing forever, but our forthcoming proposals do not include it. We are confident that we can replace the Human Rights Act with a Bill of Rights and reform our relationship with the Strasbourg Court.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

BBC: Met Office

Lord Hunt of Chesterton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the Met Office will cease to provide forecasts for the BBC; what assessment they have made of the impact of that change on the provision of the shipping forecast in particular; and what discussion they have had with the BBC about ensuring that future providers have detailed knowledge of the UK.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: Details of the contract between the Met Office and BBC are a matter for the BBC. The Met Office and BBC are in discussion over the future use of Met Office public weather service data and National Severe Weather Warnings during periods of significant weather. The Shipping Forecast is paid for and provided by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). The MCA have responsibility for providing maritime weather products (including a Shipping Forecast), ensuring that the contracted supplier meets the necessary required standards. The current supplier contracted by the MCA is the Met Office. Their current contract runs for a minimum of 3 years, until 2018, with the possibility of a further 2 years. The MCA are in the process of finalising a written agreement with the BBC that will ensure the maritime forecasts that they broadcast will be the ones supplied by the MCA.

EU Youth Orchestra

Lord Judd: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their policy towards the future of the European Youth Orchestra, and the role of the EU in its future.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: Last week the commission announced the continuation of the orchestra for a further year, until the end of 2016. British donors and foundations are prominent among its funders, reflecting the generosity of British philanthropy in the arts.

ICT: Security

Lord Mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of which sectors have (1) increased, and (2) reduced, their percentage of IT spend on cyber security between 2014 and 2015.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: The Government’s recently published Cyber Security Breaches Survey contains figures for average investment in cyber security by sector grouping. The full set of figures can be found in the table below and further detail can be found on pages 18-19 of the survey main report. There are no comparable figures for previous years. Average investment in cyber security in last financial year by sector grouping:SectorAverage InvestmentOverall£4,060Financial/Insurance£12,200Information/Communications/Utilities£10,000Administration/Real Estate£8,900Retail/Wholesale/Transport£4,110Construction/Manufacturing£3,090Education/Health/Social Care£1,280Entertainment/Services/Membership£1,220Food/Hospitality£511 The ful Cyber Secuirty Breaches Survey is attached.



Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2016 - MAIN REPORT
(PDF Document, 1.32 MB)

Claims Management Services: Regulation

Lord Mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to introduce an enforceable regulatory regime of any type to tackle nuisance calls, texts and other forms of marketing for claims management companies.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: The Government is taking forward a range of measures to tackle nuisance calls, which will increase consumer protection and choice by strengthening the Information Commissioner's Office's (ICO) ability to take enforcement action against organisations that break the law. Specific actions include requiring direct marketing callers to display calling line identification; strengthening the ICO's direct marketing guidance; and exploring the extension of the ICO’s powers of compulsory audit to more of the organisations that generate nuisance calls. The Government also intends to establish a tougher regulatory regime for Claims Management Companies (CMCs) by transferring responsibility for claims management regulation to the Financial Conduct Authority; re-authorising all CMCs under a more robust process; and holding managers of CMCs personally accountable for the actions of their businesses.

Claims Management Services

Lord Mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the percentage of claims management companies that have faced some sort of intervention from the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) works closely with the Claims Management Regulator (CMR) and they regularly share intelligence and information about issues of mutual concern involving claims management companies (CMCs).There are a total of 1,752 authorised CMCs, of which 21 CMCs were placed under investigation by the ICO during 2015-2016, amounting to 1.2% of the total. Some of which resulted in formal enforcement action.Further information can be found in the attached Claims Management Regulation Annual Report. Details of all the ICO's enforcement action are published on its website at: https://ico.org.uk/action-weve-taken/enforcement/



CMR Annual Report 2015
(PDF Document, 3.23 MB)

Department for Work and Pensions

Housing Benefit

Lord Ouseley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the freeze on housing benefit rates, combined with an extended benefit cap and rising rents, on homeless families, and especially children, in particular in cases where local authorities have to place families in temporary housing far away from their local areas.

Lord Freud: The Government routinely publishes cumulative analysis of the impacts of its tax, welfare and public spending policies on households. The most recent assessment was published at Budget 2016 and is available on gov.uk. Nevertheless, such static analysis is limited in that it cannot robustly capture the behavioural changes encouraged by these policies. Considering welfare measures in isolation, such as Housing Benefit changes, would fail to recognise the impacts of tax and spending decisions such as the increase to the personal allowance and the provision of early years’ childcare, which are benefitting families up and down the country.

Ministry of Defence

Crimes against Humanity

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Ministry of Defence will follow the lead of the US military by training relevant officers serving in at-risk countries in how to identify early warning signals of mass atrocities or genocide, and how to act upon those signals in order effectively to bring such issues to the notice of relevant officers and UK officials.

Earl Howe: All members of the UK Armed Forces and those civilians involved in the conduct of armed conflict receive training in the Law of Armed Conflict.For military personnel this training takes place during initial training, and it is continually refreshed throughout their career and prior to deployments. Training includes the responsibilities that being in a command role places on individuals. Commanding Officers receive further training on their additional legal responsibilities, and have access to advice from a Service Legal Advisor when deployed.As part of pre-deployment training all personnel receive cultural briefings relevant to where they are deploying, including the known risks specific to the potential for mass atrocities or genocide. Furthermore, any indications of possible atrocities or genocide that are picked up through the work of the Ministry of Defence and other Departments are passed to the relevant personnel.All personnel are fully aware of this responsibility to report any warnings of mass atrocities or genocide up through their chain of command.

Department for Communities and Local Government

Social Rented Housing

Lord Chadlington: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the relationship between the inability to pay high rents and the risk of homelessness, what they are doing to ensure access to social housing.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: The statutory requirement to consider ‘reasonable preference’ prioritises social housing for those who need it the most. The provisions in the Housing and Planning Act that ensure new tenancies are regularly reviewed will enable councils to get the best use out of their social housing.To enable local authorities to help claimants affected by changes to Housing Benefit who need extra support, we have also increased the level of funding for Discretionary Housing Payment to £870 million in total across this Parliament – a notional 55 per cent increase compared to the previous Parliament.Whilst households who face homelessness need suitable, settled accommodation it does not always need to be social housing. That is why we changed the law to allow authorities to make offers of good quality private rented sector accommodation. Since 2010 our homelessness prevention funding has helped local authorities and homelessness charities prevent almost a million households from becoming homeless. We want this work to continue and that is why we have maintained and protected homelessness prevention funding though the local government finance settlement totalling £315 million by 2019/20.The government is also committed to delivering affordable housing. Twice as much council housing has been built since 2010 than in the previous 13 years. The Spending Review in 2016 allocated £8 billion to deliver 400,000 affordable homes this parliament.

Community Infrastructure Levy

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the levels of community infrastructure levy levied by each local planning authority in England.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: This information is not centrally collected by Government. Community Infrastructure Levy charging authorities are required to publish their levy rates in a Charging Schedule and make this available on their website. Community Infrastructure Levy rates must be based on local viability evidence and are subject to two public consultations and independent examination. Draft charging schedules, relevant evidence and the recommendations of the independent examiner are also published.

Derelict Land

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what government funds now exist to support brownfield housing; how much is available and for what purposes; what are the procedures for distribution of these funds, and how much has so far been disbursed from each of them.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: We are making available £1.2 billion through the Starter Home Land Fund to prepare suitable brownfield sites to support at least 30,000 Starter Homes. A prospectus about the Starter Home Land Fund was published at the Budget in March 2016. £9 million has already been invested since the Fund’s establishment in April 2016.We announced at Spending Review that £2 billion in loans will be made available to invest in infrastructure needed for major housing developments. We would expect at least 50 per cent of this funding to support housing on brownfield sites. Full bidding guidance will be available when the fund is launched.

National Infrastructure Commission

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the remit of the National Infrastructure Commission includes the provision of sufficient social and affordable housing.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: The National Infrastructure Commission will have a mandate to examine all sectors of economic infrastructure – including flood defences, energy, transport, water and sewage, waste and digital communications. While the Commission’s remit will not include housing supply directly, the Commission will consider the potential interactions between its infrastructure recommendations and housing supply.

Green Belt

Lord Storey: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what safeguards are in place to ensure that greenbelt land is only built on in exceptional circumstances.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: The National Planning Policy Framework sets out that development in the Green Belt should not be permitted except in very special circumstances. A Green Belt boundary may be adjusted by local planning authorities in exceptional circumstances, using the Local Plan process involving consultation with local people and rigorous examination by the Planning Inspector. Planning guidance is clear that constraints such as Green Belt may limit the ability of a local planning authority to meet its full housing needs.

Domestic Waste: Waste Disposal

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 12 February 2015 (HL4187), whether the Weekly Collection Support Scheme is still in operation, what additional schemes have been supported since that answer was given, and what applications are awaiting a decision.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: The Weekly Collection Support Scheme is in operation until November 2017. However, all funding has been allocated and there are no applications still awaiting a decision.Since the answer given on 12 February 2015, the department allocated £11 million in March and April 2015 through its Recycling Reward Scheme to support 41 local authorities to deliver initiatives which reward residents for doing the right thing and reducing, reusing or recycling their household waste.

Department for Energy and Climate Change

Radioactive Materials: Security

Lord West of Spithead: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 23 May (HL Deb, col 138), whether the same level of protection is given to storage sites for low-grade radioactive material as to nuclear power stations, and if not, what are the varying levels of protection given.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: In line with our international treaty obligations under the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Materials and Nuclear Facilities, the UK adopts a graded approach to civil nuclear security. This takes into account the level and nature of the threat, the nature of the nuclear material and the potential consequences associated with the theft of the nuclear material and with sabotage against the nuclear material or nuclear facilities. This means that for those sites holding nuclear materials; be they operating reactor sites, research sites, decommissioning sites, or low level waste storage sites, the level of protection provided is proportionate to the risks arising from theft or sabotage.

Cabinet Office

Voting Rights: British Nationals Abroad

Lord Lexden: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether their planned legislation to enfranchise British citizens resident abroad for over 15 years will be introduced in the current Session.

Lord Bridges of Headley: The Government is committed to removing the 15 year time limit on the voting rights of British citizens living overseas, and will bring forward a Bill to make a permanent change on overseas voting rights as soon as Parliamentary time allows.

Department of Health

Surrogate Motherhood

Baroness King of Bow: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the views of surrogates, academics, parents through surrogacy, and legal practitioners, about the case for surrogacy law reform, in particular with regard to legal parenthood following surrogacy.

Baroness King of Bow: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of Sir James Munby’s ruling in In re. Z(A Child) (No.2) [2016] EWHC 1191(Fam) that UK law is incompatible with the human rights of single parents who have children born through surrogacy.

Baroness King of Bow: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 11 May (HL8079), and in the light of the judgment In re. Z(A Child) (No.2) [2016] EWHC 1191(Fam), whether they now intend to review the legislation relating to surrogacy.

Lord Prior of Brampton: Surrogacy is a complex issue, the legislation about which has not been significantly addressed by respective administrations since the Surrogacy Arrangements Act 1985. The Government recognises the arguments for the need for a review, and we have therefore asked the Law Commission, as part of the consultation on its 13th work programme this summer, to consider including a project on surrogacy The Government has accepted the judgment by Sir James Munby from the High Court. We will be looking to update the legislation on Parental Orders, and are now considering how best to do this.The Government recognises surrogacy as an important option for some people wishing to start a family and is currently considering how best to clarify the current legal arrangements for intended parents, surrogates and their families. The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service campaign to increase awareness of Parental Orders is ongoing and targeted at health workers, local authority registration staff and surrogacy agencies. It will be evaluated in full upon completion in autumn 2016; in-campaign monitoring indicates its messaging is reaching the target audience.

Hepatitis: Drugs

Baroness Randerson: To ask Her Majesty’s Government why NHS England has decided to restrict hepatitis C treatment, with providers subject to a financial penalty if they do not keep within specified numbers, despite those treatments being approved as cost-effective by NICE.

Lord Prior of Brampton: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) specifically requires Operational Delivery Networks (ODNs) to prioritise hepatitis C patients on the basis of highest unmet clinical need, as part of a progressive rollout of treatments over the next five years. NHS England is funding providers to treat patients at the rate outlined in NICE’s guidance, Technology Appraisals 363, 364 and 365, apportioned to local ODNs based on local health needs. Copies of these Technology Appraisals are attached.



NICE Technology Appraiasal 363
(PDF Document, 273.7 KB)




NICE Technology Appraisal 364
(PDF Document, 239.39 KB)




NICE Technology Appraisal 365
(PDF Document, 206.24 KB)

Hospital Beds

Lord Ouseley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the shortfall in resources available to enable elderly and disabled patients to be discharged from hospitals with adequate provision in place for their appropriate care at home or elsewhere.

Lord Prior of Brampton: No-one should stay in hospital any longer than they need to and this Government is determined to ensure that health and social care are properly funded. As well as funding the National Health Service’s own plan for the future with £10 billion, we are giving local authorities access to up to £3.5 billion extra for adult social care by 2019/2020 through the new Social Care Precept and additional social care funding in the Better Care Fund.

Hospital Beds

Lord Ouseley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether elderly and disabled patents are being discharged from hospitals without adequate on-going care arrangements in place in order to free up beds for other hospital admissions.

Lord Prior of Brampton: No patient with on-going care and support needs should be discharged from hospital without appropriate arrangements for meeting those needs being put in place. We expect the National Health Service and local authorities to work together to ensure that patient safety and social care needs are taken into account when decisions are made to discharge patients from hospital.

Accident and Emergency Departments

The Marquess of Lothian: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the average number of people who visited a hospital Accident and Emergency department in the UK on (1) a weekday, or (2) a Saturday or Sunday, in 2015.

Lord Prior of Brampton: In 2014-15, there were an average of 52,883 attendances at accident and emergency per day on weekdays (Monday to Friday) and of 52,426 attendances per day at the weekend (Saturdays and Sundays).

Accident and Emergency Departments

The Marquess of Lothian: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what percentage of visits to hospital Accident and Emergency departments during 2015 resulted in admission to hospital.

Lord Prior of Brampton: In 2015 there were 22,434,007 attendances at accident and emergency departments in England. For 18.2% of these attendances, the patient was admitted as an emergency.

NHS: Staff

Lord Radice: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people were employed in the NHS in England last year; how many (1) left, and (2) joined, the NHS in that period, and of those who (1) left, and (2) joined, how many were not UK citizens.

Lord Prior of Brampton: Annual data from the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) shows that in September 2015, there were 1,151,138 people employed in the National Health Service in England. In the period between September 2014 and September 2015 there were 136,168 leavers and 155,326 joiners. Information on how many leavers and joiners were not United Kingdom citizens is not held centrally.

Incontinence: Medical Equipment

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 28 April (HL7700), how NHS England has satisfied itself that Nottinghamshire Clinical Commissioning Groups have met all the requirements of the tendering process, and that that process was consistent with Part IX of the Drug Tariff framework for reimbursement and remuneration.

Lord Prior of Brampton: NHS England advises that the procurement process was managed on behalf of Nottinghamshire Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) by the ArdenGem Commissioning Support Unit. This process was conducted in accordance with relevant guidance and legislation. All CCGs are subject to an external audit each year to ensure that effective internal governance arrangements are in place. Part IX of the Drug Tariff is the national specification for appliances that can be prescribed on National Health Service prescription. NHS England confirms that the service for which the Nottinghamshire CCGs tendered requires prescriptions to be written for patients, which will be dispensed within the framework for reimbursement and remuneration set out in Part IX of the Drug Tariff.